Top Ten Tuesday - Books About Friendship

This is a link up with The Broke and The Bookish. This week's Top Ten Tuesday is our top ten books about friendship.  I've been reading a lot of contemporary romance/fiction lately and most of them feature a strong friendship theme but often the friendship is mainly there to help provide continuation for the series.  It's not a bad thing and most of them time it feels like the characters are actually friends but their friendship isn't really a major feature of the story.  The ten I chose are ten that I feel the friendship was really important to the development of the story or character or that really make me feel that friendship develops or strengths over the coarse of the story.

1.  Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - This book is just crisscrossed with friendship.  There's the obvious Anne and Diana, then there's Anne and Gilbert, Marilla and Rachel, Marilla and Matthew, Matthew and Anne, Gilbert's friendship with the boys in school, Anne's friendships with the girls in school, Anne's friendship with Aunt Josephine, Anne's friendship with Miss Stacey.  LOTS of friendships.  The book is pretty much a big giant log book of friendships with some other events thrown in.  As each friendship develops Anne becomes a little more at home.

2 . Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - Really all the books involving Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings.  While they drive each other crazy these two really in truly are friends.  The Mysterious Affair at Styles is where we first meet them and they first meet each other.

3.  84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - If you haven't read this lovely little book told in letter form you really really should.  Here we meet actress Helene Hanff writing to a bookstore in London to find beautiful books.  She meets Frank Doel and an unlike friendship develops.  It's really a charming book.

4.  The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson (Review) - Piper has just about given up on everything in this odd mix of dystopian and steampunk.  She mostly wants to be left alone and work on her machines.  That is until Anna stumbles into her life and she decides to take the girl back to where she belongs.  During their journey a friendship emerges and through it Piper finds where she's meant to be.

5.  Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski (Review) - This book about a flu vaccine which gives a bunch of 15 year olds the ability to read minds is all about friendship teenage style and is enough to make me glad that the teenage years are very far behind me.

6.  Home to Seaview Key by Sherryl Woods (Review) - The friendship between Hannah and Abby is really the star of this book.  These are 2 women who were best friends all through childhood and up until they graduated high school and then they went their separate ways.  Hannah is married to Abby's high school boyfriend but is recovering from cancer and not feeling her best so is intimidated by Abby's put togetherness.  Abby is out of a bad marriage and worse divorce and really needs a friend.  I loved that these two were honest with each other and were able to try and work through their issues.

7.  The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - When this book starts married couple Jack and Mabel are very much alone even though they are together.  However, as their friendship with the little girl develops as does their friendship with a neighboring family and finally each other.

8.  The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton - The friendship between Eliza and Rose really is what drives everything that happens in this book.

9.  The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Spoiled little Mary Lennox has no one - especially not friends.  However, when she comes to Misselthwaite Manor this begins to change as does her spoiled selfish nature.  First there's the housemaid Martha, then there's her brother Dickon and finally a little boy as unhappy and spoiled as Mary named Colin.  As the friendships develop so does Mary's personality.

10. Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas - This whole series is really about friendship as 4 women who really don't fit in for various reasons become friends on the edges of London ballrooms.  However, this one is my favorite so it's the one I'm talking about.  It's Evie's friendship with Annabelle, Lillian and Daisy that drives her away from them in order to protect them.  It's Evie's friendship with St. Vincent and Cam that keeps her safe.  It's Evie's friendship with Lillian and St. Vincent's with Westcliff that protects them both.